Self-closing door and interior door hinge assembly



May 29, 1956 R. H. JONES ET AL SELF-CLOSING DOOR AND INTERIOR DOOR HINGE ASSSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 18, 1953 INVENTORS 06527 H JONES BY .Jahw FT 5V06'0049 M, M, Ar'f-ozuevj May 29, 1956 R. H. JONES ET AL 2,747,238

SELF-CLOSING DOOR AND INTERIOR DOOR HINGE ASSSEMBLY Filed June 18, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

205E27- H. JONES BY do /-//v E Suoaaop wwwwm A 1- raeus Y! "nited SELF-CLOSING DOOR AND INTERIOR DOOR HINGE ASSEMBLY Application June 18, 1953, Serial No. 362,508

15 Claims. (Cl. 20-46) This invention relates to a self-closing door and interior door hinge assembly.

The invention contemplates the provision of special bracket means between the face plies of a builtup door and desirably fixed to one or both such plies independently of the filler. Further contemplated is a special gravity type hinge mounted, desirably by a single screw, upon one portion of such bracket means and in interlocking engagement with another to be confined in the interior of the door between the face plies thereof and to provide an exceptionally rigid and exceptionally neat means of supporting the door for free hinged movement in either direction from the central position to which it returns by gravity when displaced therefrom.

Cooperating with the portion of the hinge which brings about gravity return of the door, there is provided a remote hinge element likewise positioned between the planes of the exterior faces of the door and providing a pintle aligned with that of the gravity hinge.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of the door and hinge assembly embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a view illustrating in separated positions the component parts of a builtup door such as that used in the assembly of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view in vertical axial section through the gravity hinge device and associated parts of the door.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view in vertical axial section through the upper hinge of the door shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a view fragmentarily illustrating in side elevation and partly broken away to vertical section the several component parts of the gravity hinge used in the lower corner of the door. I

Fig. 6 is a view taken in horizontal section through the gravity hinge in the plane indicated at 6-6 in Fig. 3.

The door 7 is of a type best illustrated in the exploded drawing of Fig. 2. It comprises pan-shaped face panels 8 and 9 having mating complementary marginal flanges 10 and 11, respectively. These pan-shaped panels are laminated together upon intervening multiple plies 12 of sound deadening material such as fiberboard to make a socalled flush type door, the margins of which are finished by the application of finishing strips 13 as best shown in Fig. 6.

In the past, where hinges have been applied externally to such doors, they have generally been connected to the weakest portions of such doors, at the edges thereof. According to the present invention, the filler plies 12 are deeply notched at 14 and 15 at the upper and lower inner corners of the door and the panels 8 and 9 are connected within the aforesaid notches of the filler by hinge mounting and panel reenforcing brackets, each of which is desirably made in one piece as clearly appears in Figs. 2, 3 and 4.

The lower corner bracket 16 comprises a strap having a horizontal portion 17 and a vertical portion 18 connected by an integral angle at 19. Each of the aforeaten t said horizontal and vertical portions has relatively broad flanges fastened to the face ply 9 of the door. These flanges appear at 20 and 21, respectively, in Figs. 2 and 3.

Similarly, the upper bracket 23 as shown in Figs. 2 and 4 comprises integrally a pair of vertically spaced horizontal portions 24 and 25 connected by an integral vertical portion 26. The several portions aforesaid are respectively provided with broad flanges at 27, 28 and 29, all of which are fastened to the face ply 9 of the door. Thus, in the fabrication of the door proper, the hinge mounting brackets are all initially fastened to face ply 9 to be handled unitarily therewith as the respective panels 3 and 9 are assembled to each other about the filler 14. In the final assembly operation, the shorter flanges 30 and 31 of bracket portions 17 and 18 are fastened to the face ply panel 8, this being possible after the door is otherwise assembled, by reaching into the notches at the corners of the door. Similarly, the shorter flanges 32, 33 and 34 of bracket portions 24, 26 and 25 at the top corner of the door are fastened to the inner panel 8 of the door at such corner.

At the lower inner corner of the door, the panels 8 and 9 have shallow notches at 35 and 36, respectively. The hinge supporting arm 37 of the jamb mounting plate 38 projects into the resulting notch in the door corner. The tapered bushing 39 carried by such arm receives the complementarily tapered lower end of the cam stud 40, which is fixed therein by nut 41. The cam 42 encircles the upper end portion 43 of the stud and is seated upon a shoulder at 44. Within portion 43 is a bearing 45 for the pintle 46. Extending transversely through the pintle, and fixed to project laterally therefrom, is a shoulder rivet 47 which provides a ball race for hearing 48 of the cam roller 49. A bracket 50 supports the outer end of shoulder rivet 47 and is secured by a screw 51 to the upper end of pintle 46. When the bracket 50 is connected with a door and the cam sleeve 42 is properly oriented with respect to the jamb, the roller 49 will ride on the curved cam margin 52 at the upper end of sleeve 42 to return the door to its normally centered position whenever the door is displaced therefrom.

The bracket generically designated by reference character 16, and permanently fixed within the door between the face panels 8 and 9 thereof, as above described, carries an attached nut 54 attached to its portion 18 as best shown in Figs. 3, 5 and 6. The horizontal arm 17 of this bracket has an aperture at 55 into which the head of screw 51 is received as a dowel, no fastening being necessary at this point. To assemble the hinge organization in the door, it is only necessary to thrust the head of screw 51 into the opening at 55 in the bracket and to thread the single retaining screw 56 through the bracket 59 and into the fixed nut 54. t

A. closure 57 apertured to receive screw 56 is also held by this screw in a position to close the lower side of the chamber thus formed within the door to receive the hinge. The closure 57 has horizontal and vertical portions as best shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 5 and has external flanges 58 to embrace the outer faces of panels 8 and 9, as best shown in Fig. 1 and indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 3.

Ordinarily the hinge will be entirely assembled in the door when supplied by the manufacturer with the exception that the stud 40 will not necessarily be assembled to the bushing 39 in arm 37 of the jamb mounting clamp 38. After the jamb mounting clamp is fixed to the jamb, the stud 40 will be dropped into the tapered bushing 39 and drawn tight with nut 41 to complete the hinge at the lower corner of the door.

At the upper corner of the door, the jamb clamp 60 carries an arm 61 which has a bearing 62 both rotatably and slidably engaged with the upper pintle 65. Since the notch in the 'door at the upper corner does not open to the top thereof, the trimming closure 66 is C-shaped as best shown in Fig. 1. It has upper and lower apertures through which the pintle 65 extends into engagement with the upper and lower horizontal portions 24 'andf25 of the door reenforcing bracket. At its lower .end, pintle 65 is :threaded at 68 and it is engaged in a f'thr'ea'ded aperture of a nut element 69 welded to the bra'ck'et \portion 25, as best shown in Fig. 4. It may be introduced through an opening provided at '70 in the :top of the door and it is provided with a screwdriver slot :at 71 to enable it to be turned down into nut 69 .asshown and described.

Within the notch of the door, the pintle 65 passes througha fiat-faced barrel 75, the surfaces of which are ordinarily-flush with door panels 8 and 9. The barrel 75 has a slot-at 76 through which the jamb-supported arm 61 enters to provide a'bearing for pintle 65. As the door turns and moves vertically in response to the cam action of the roller 49 riding on the cam surface 1 52 of the cam sleeve 42, the barrel 75 partakes of its vertical movement but is held by arm 61 against oscillation withthe door. The length of slot 76 accommodates the relative movement of arm 61 as the door rises and falls.

-It will be evident from the foregoing that our hinge and door assembly .provides an unusually neat organization in which both the upper and lower hinge elements operate within and between the faces of the door, the pintles, in each case, being housed between portions of the face panels of the flush door. Yet the construction is an'unusually sturdy one, the hinge being mounted on :brackets which are fastened across the interior of the door to both of the face panels thereof. A very substantial advantage is the ease with which the hinge assemblies may be mounted to the door. A single screw suffices in each instance, the screw comprising the pintle itself in the case of the upper hinge assembly.

In the assembly of the door and the connection of the hinge brackets to the door parts, any approved means of connection may beused, screwing, bolting and welding being conventional for the purpose. Such details form no part of the present invention and we do not wish to limit ourselves to particulars given merely by way of exemplification but have defined our invention in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. :In a door having face panels and provided with a cavity between such'panels at its lower corner, the combination of bracket means in fixed connection with at least one of said face panels and disposed within the cavity, and a hinge for said door having a portion fixed tothe bracket means and comprising a pintle and a gravity closing =cam both mounted within the cavity, said bracket means comprising door support means for lifting said door on said gravity closing cam and supporting said door on said cam from said face panel.

2. The combination with a door comprising face panels and a filler confined between said panels and notched at its lower door corner, of -a door-supporting bracket in fixed connection to at least one of said face panels and disposed insaid notch, a hinge bracket connected to the door supporting bracket within the notch, a hinge pintle provided -witha cam follower roller and mounted to said hinge bracket between said panels, and a closure below said roller for the space within said notch and between said panels to provide a chamber within the door in which said roller :is disposed, said closure being provided with an aperture aligned with said pintle for connection of said pintle with a jamb bracket having a bearing for the pintle and a cam forthe cam roller on which said door is-lifted by said-door-supporting bracket and hinge bracket when the pintle is rotated-in'its bearing.

3. 'A-hinge and "door organization comprising the combination with a jamb mounting including an arm, of a cam stud mounted on said arm to project upwardly, a cam sleeve mounted on said stud and having its 'upper surface finished to provide a cam track, a pintle rotatably guided in said stud and provided with a transversely disposed bearing pin, a roller mounted on said pin and riding on the upper surface of said cam sleeve, a bracket connected with the top of the pintle and with said pin, and means for mounting said bracket on a door, in further combination with a door having face panels and an interior cavity at its lower corner, a mounting bracket in fixed connection to said face panels and to which the bracket first mentioned is connected, and a screw detachably providing such connection, said bracket comprising means to lift said door on said cam sleeve when said pintle is rotated in said stud.

4. The device of claim 3 in which the bracket fixed between the panels of the door has a socket and said pintle has an extension in doweled engagement in said socket, the said screw connecting said brackets only adjacent their lower ends.

5. In an organization of the character described, the combination with a door jamb hinge leaf and an arm projecting laterally therefrom, of a tapered socket in the arm, a stud having a complementarily tapered portion seated in said socket, said stud projecting upwardly from said arm and provided with an annular shoulder, a cam sleeve mounted on the stud and seated against the shoulder, a pintle bearing carried by the stud within the sleeve, a pintle journaled in said bearing and provided with a projecting pin, a cam roller rotatably mounted on the pin and riding on the upper end of the sleeve, an angle bracket having a portion extending across and connected with the upper end of the pintle, another portion extending downwardly beside the pintle and with which such pin is connected outside of the roller, and means for connecting said angle bracket to a door.

6. The device of claim 5 in further combination with a door comprising face panels having a cavity between them and within which said angle bracket sleeve, pintle and roller are housed.

7. The device of claim 5 in further combination with a closure for said cavity, said closure having an aperture through which said stud projects into engagement with said arm.

8. The device of claim 5 in which said door comprises bracket means rigidly connected with its said panels about said cavity and provided with a tapped opening, said angle bracket having a single screw extending through it and engaged in such tapped opening as a means of connecting the angle bracket with the aforesaid bracket of said door.

9. The device of claim 5 in which the bracket between the panels of said door has a portion above said pintle provided with a socket, said pintle having an extension through said angle bracket in doweled engagement in the socket.

10. The hinged door organization of the character described comprising the combination with a door comprising pan-shaped panels having margined flanges at registering upper and lower hinge notches, the latter being at a corner of the door, a filler confined between said panels and notched at its lower corner to define filler margins offset inwardly from the lower hinge notch, means connecting said panels and including a bracket outlining the lower hinge notch of the filler and inwardly offset from the lower hinge notch of the door, a hinge device including jamb mounted portion and a door mounted portion, the latter being connected with the said bracket and disposed adjacent the said lower hinge notch, and a closure outlining said notch and flanged in engagement with said panels, said door having an internal chamber between said panels and-enclosed by said bracket and said closure, together with gravity hinge mechanism disposed between the jamb mounted hinge portion and the door mounted hinge portion in said chamber.

11. A hinge comprising the combination with relatively pivotally movable bracket elements respectively adapted for jamb and door connections, pintle means connected with one of said elements, bearing means connected with the other and in which the pintle means is mounted for oscillatory movement, cam means connected with one of the elements, and cam follower means connected With the other, the cam means having a track extending circumferentially and axially of the pintle means and upon which said cam follower means relatively moves for efiFecting movement of the door-connected bracket element axially of the pintle means, and a door provided with an interior recess in which the door-connected bracket element and the pintle and bearing and cam and cam follower are disposed.

12. A metal door panel having a hinged bracket, means for permanently fixing said bracket to said panel within the door of which said panel is a part and a hinge comprising relatively oscillatory elements, means for connecting one of said elements with said bracket to dispose said element Within the door, the other said element projecting laterally of the door, and means hingedly connecting said elements and including a. bearing attached to one of said elements and a pintle attached to the other and oscillatable and axially movable in the bearing.

13. The device of claim 12 in which said relatively mov able elements further have a cam follower and a cam with a component axially of said pintle and operatively engaged to effect relative axial movement of the pintle in its bearing in the course of oscillation of the pintle respecting the bearing, said hinged bracket comprising means for lifting said door on said cam when said pintle is turned in its bearing.

14. The device of claim 12 in further combination with a second panel connected with the first panel, and a filler intervening between said panels and having a notch in which the bracket and hinge structure aforesaid are disposed.

15. A method of assembly of a door and hinge structure which comprises the prefabrication of door face panels and a notched filler and hinged mounting brackets, the fastening of such brackets at the inner face of one of said panels to provide support for a hinge structure within the door, the assembly to the last mentioned panel of the filler and the other panel, the fastening of portions of said brackets to said other panel in the course of such assembly, the mounting of hinge structure upon a bracket element complementary to one of the brackets first mentioned, the connection of the complementary bracket to the bracket to which it is complementary, and the application of a closure between said panels and about said hinge structure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,845,477 Bommer Feb. 16, 1932 1,879,079 Carpenter et al Sept. 27, 1932 1,879,080 Carpenter et al. Sept. 27, 1932 1,920,509 Jones et al. Aug. 1, 1933 2,604,653 Anderson et al. July 29, 1952 

